KR20210021003A - Systems and methods for measuring 3D properties using computer vision - Google Patents

Abstract

A system including a computing device and a camera is disclosed. The system is configured to measure the three-dimensional properties of the mechanical device and associated performance measures. Some embodiments include a camera configured to capture an image of a mechanical device and a computing device in communication with the camera. In some embodiments, the computing device is configured to access a first set of pixels associated with the first plurality of fiducials to correct the spatial resolution of the camera. The second image from the camera may be transformed into a second set of pixels associated with each of a plurality of fiducials attached to the mechanical device. The computing device may be further configured to compare the first and second sets of pixels to determine the locations of the plurality of fiducials on the mechanical device.

Description

Systems and methods for measuring 3D properties using computer vision

Cross-reference to related applications

This application is a U.S. regular patent application claiming benefit to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/684,119, filed June 12, 2018, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Technical field

The present disclosure measures the adjustment of certain physical properties associated with the mechanical device (in real time) by predicting the three-dimensional (3D) characteristics of a mechanical device, generally based on processed two-dimensional (2D) data associated with the mechanical device. A computerized system comprising a camera and at least one computing device collectively configured to receive.

Mechanical devices are often subjected to adjustment steps during or after manufacture of the device, for example to configure the angles and other dimensions associated with the components of the device as desired. For example, the angle of the arm or elongate member relative to the entire body or selected surface of the device may be adjusted or modified according to certain specifications suitable for a particular application. However, the adjustment step may involve attaching and detaching the mechanical device to various measurement and adjustment tools, which can cause wear or damage to the device.

As a specific non-limiting example, adjusting the properties of a golf club (e.g., loft) during manufacturing or otherwise requires careful application of structural modifications to the club head and club shaft according to accurate measurements. . In particular, measurements should be made after every adjustment of the golf club properties (eg, loft angle, lie angle, length, bulge or roll) to ensure proper adjustment. However, tools that measure the properties of a golf club generally require physical contact with the golf club. As such, the golf club is typically transferred several times between the measuring tool and the adjusting tool. Thus, the golf club may have to be re-positioned within the adjustment tool before every adjustment. Transferring the golf club multiple times in this way increases the working time for manufacturing, and may also cause scratches and wear on the finished golf club product.

With this observation in mind, in particular various aspects of the present disclosure have been conceived and developed.

1A is a simplified block diagram illustrating a system configured to accommodate measurements and possible adjustments of a mechanical device according to a desired target performance specification.
FIG. 1B is a flow diagram showing the relationship and flow logic between possible modules of the application for possible adjustment and evaluation of the mechanical devices associated with the system of FIG. 1A.
2A is an exemplary calibration sheet comprising an array of fiducials for tracking image features of a mechanical device.
2B is a set of fiducials associated with the calibration sheet of FIG. 2A that may be positioned along a mechanical device to measure aspects of the device as described herein.
3A is a simplified illustration of an exemplary mechanical device that can be measured and adjusted using the system described herein.
3B is a simplified example of applying the system described herein to an actual golfer to improve swing analysis.
FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the relationship and flow logic between possible modules of the application for possible adjustment and evaluation of a particular mechanical device, such as a golf club, using the system of FIG. 1A.
5 is a perspective view of the golf club mentioned in FIG. 4.
6A is a perspective view of the golf club referred to in FIG. 4 with a fiducial positioned along the golf club.
6B is another perspective view of the golf club referred to in FIG. 4 with an origin located along the golf club.
6C is an enlarged detail view of the club head of the golf club of FIG. 5B with a fiducial located along the face of the golf club.
7 is a side view of the golf club of FIG. 5B during measurement and analysis.
8A-8B are graphs illustrating test data related to the inventive concepts described herein.
9 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an example of a computing system that may implement the various services, systems, and methods discussed herein.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding elements in the drawings. The headings used in the drawings do not limit the scope of the claims.

In view of the above, there is a need for technical improvements related to systems for measuring three-dimensional (3D) properties associated with mechanical devices. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure are technical of the present disclosure in the form of a system including a computing device and/or a computer program product configured through an application or other manner, and at least one camera (integrated with or implemented separately with a computing device). Regarding a solution, the system is generally used to calculate or process image data representing changes in 2D image features associated with a mechanical device (interpreted by an actual feature defined along the device and/or a reference positioned along the device). It is configured to measure the 3D properties related to the predetermined performance measurement of the mechanical device based on.

The system of the present invention can improve various aspects of the manufacturing and measurement of mechanical devices. More specifically, the system provides manufacturers with real-time readings of the mechanical device's 3D properties during production, allowing the properties to be adjusted without re-positioning the device within the adjustment mechanism after each measurement. Thus, the system can reduce working time, number of adjustments, wear and scratches of the finished product. In addition, the system can improve the quality of the device, lower operating costs, and reduce technician fatigue. Referring to the drawings, an embodiment of a system for measuring a property of a mechanical device in real time is shown, which is generally indicated as 100 and 200 in FIGS. 1 to 9.

Referring to Fig. 1A, a system 100 for measuring and adjusting properties of a mechanical device is shown. The system 100 generally includes a measurement and calibration application 102 (hereinafter “application 102”) executed by the computing device 104, a camera 106 in operative communication with the computing device 104 (or A plurality of cameras 106], and a fiducial 108 (or a plurality of fiducials 108) defined or positioned along the mechanical device 110. The fiducial point 108 is any object or marker placed in the field of view of the camera 106 or other imaging system that appears as a reference point or measure (or as a set of objects or marks in the reticle of the optics) in the subsequently generated image or image data. Can include. In some embodiments, the fiducial point 108 is captured by a camera 106, or a discrete component that can be coupled to a portion of the mechanical device 110 such as a barcode, a 2D barcode, a solid geometry (e.g., a green triangle) or It may include any such component that may be interpreted and represented as pixels of an image generated by camera 106. Alternatively, fiducial 108 may include actual features defined along mechanical device 110 such as grooves, ridges, protrusions, printed text, etc. that may be used to define planes, vectors or other properties.

In some embodiments, the system 100 may further include a securing tool 112 such as a vise grip to hold the mechanical device 110 in place with respect to the camera 106, and also It may include an adjustment tool 114 (eg, such as a bending machine, pliers, wrench, etc.) to manipulate, bend, or otherwise modify the physical properties of the device 110. Collectively, system 100 is configured to accommodate the measurement and adjustment of certain characteristics of mechanical device 110 as further described herein.

As shown, computing device 104 may operatively communicate wirelessly with camera 106 via network 116. In other embodiments, computing device 104 may operably communicate with camera 106 via a wired connection, or camera 106 may be integrated with computing device 104 as further described herein. I can. Computing device 104 may be configured by a server, controller, personal computer, terminal, workstation, laptop, mobile device, smart phone, tablet, main frame, or application 102, or otherwise, the functionality described herein. It may include one or more of other such computing devices configured to implement. The application 102 may be created using different software packages such as C++'s Open CV and ArUco toolset, but the concept is not limited in this regard. Aspects of system 100 and/or application 102 may be implemented using Platform as a Service (PaaS) and/or Software as a Service (SaaS), for example, using Amazon Web Services or other distributed or decentralized systems. It can be used as a mobile application. The network 116 may include the Internet, an intranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (LAN), a peer-to-peer network, a cloud, and the like. In some embodiments, a cloud (not shown) may be implemented to execute one or more components of system 100.

As further indicated, the computing device 104 may be operatively coupled with the database 118 or may otherwise access the database. The database 118 may store information about predetermined or desired properties for the mechanical device 110, virtual objects, and other related information described herein. For example, the database 118 may store information on predetermined loft and lie angles suitable for different types of golf clubs. Further, at least some features of application 102 may be made available to a plurality of user devices 120 that communicate with computing device 104 over network 116. The plurality of user devices 120 may include, without limitation, at least one of a controller, personal computer, terminal, workstation, portable computer, laptop, mobile device, tablet, phone, pager, or multimedia console. Any one of the plurality of user devices 120 may be implemented to, for example, submit a request or information to the computing device 104 and request that, for example, the mechanical device 110 be adjusted in some form.

Referring to FIG. 1A, and referring to FIG. 1B, the creation, processing and processing of data as it is executed and processed through a plurality of possible modules associated with the application 102 using the computing device 104 and the camera 106 A flow diagram 150 is shown illustrating the flow. Utilizing the illustrated module, the application 102 can be used to generate a physical 3D physical property, or other information (e.g., relative angle between any surface of the mechanical device 110 and a given axis) that can be used to generate a performance measure, or It is configured to output information useful for evaluating or adjusting device 110. In general, the camera 106 may be used to generate the corrected image frame 152 associated with the'scene correction' module 154 to evaluate the pre-corrected 3D position 156 of the fiducial 108. The fiducial 108 can be deployed along the mechanical device 110, and an image frame 158 of the mechanical device 110 can be created, in which case the 2D image coordinates 162 or the origin ( 108) to record or identify other 2D image features associated with the'origin tracking' module 160 and/or'real feature tracking' module 164 may be used with the camera 106 (parallel or individually). have. Using the 2D image coordinates 162, the '3D position estimation' module 170 associated with the application 102 is a three-dimensional (3D) point/coordinate corresponding to the origin 108 and actual features of the mechanical device 110. It is configured to estimate or generate a set of 172 later. Once these 3D points 172 are created, a'physical property definition' module configured to apply a set of predetermined linear algebraic operations to the 3D points 172 to define specific physical properties 176 of the mechanical device 110 ( 174) can be implemented. The “performance measurement” module 178 may in this case use the data related to the physical property 176 of the mechanical device 110 to output any number or type of performance measurements as further described herein. . In some embodiments, the performance measurement (not shown) may be additionally confirmed for a predetermined target specification through the'virtual object overlap' module 180 by referring to the database 182 of a predetermined virtual object.

More specifically, referring to the scene correction module 154 of FIG. 1B, the spatial resolution of the camera 106 may be first corrected by the starting point 108. In some embodiments, this is a calibration with a fiducial 108 or an array of fiducials (an array of fiducials shown as 204 in FIG. 2A) in front of the camera 106 such that the calibration sheet 202 is initially oriented towards the camera 106. It may include positioning the sheet (202 in FIG. 2A). 2A-2B, the fiducial point 108 may be a 2D image that defines the intrinsic geometry of a generally square shape and a pixelated black and white pattern. In other embodiments, fiducial 108 may be of any type or specific shape (e.g., circle, rectangle, triangle, pentagonal, octagonal, or any other shape) or to track changes to image data associated with fiducial 108. You can define some kind of characteristic suitable for The fiducial point 108 may further define the surface area. For example, the surface area of fiducial 108 may comprise any shape (eg, square, rectangular, triangular, circular, pentagonal, octagonal, or any other shape), and may be, for example, 1 inch squared. In another example, the surface area of the fiducial point 108 can be scaled up. For example, the surface area of the fiducial point 108 may be at least 1 inch square, at least 1.5 inch square, at least 1.75 inch square, at least 2 inch square, at least 2.25 inch square, or at least 2.5 inch square. In another example, the fiducial point 108 may be further scaled down. For example, the surface area of the fiducial may be less than 0.75 inches square, less than 0.50 inches square, less than 0.25 inches square, and less than 0.15 inches square. In some embodiments, the fiducials 108 exist along a two-dimensional (2D) quick response (QR) code (shown in Figures 2A-2B), or along the mechanical device 110 (not shown), or otherwise It can take the form of a naturally defined natural characteristic.

2B, additional possible features of fiducial 108 are the illustrated fiducial 108A, fiducial 108B and three examples of fiducial 108 that can be removed or copied from the correction sheet 202. It is illustrated by the starting point 108C. For example, as shown by the fiducial point 108A, the fiducial point 108 is a defined contour 210 (indicated in green) along the perimeter of the shape of the fiducial point 108, and a point located at a point on the contour ( (Indicated in red). The outline 210 represents the plane coordinate of the starting point 108A, and the point 212 represents the origin of the plane coordinate. Further, the intrinsic geometry of the pixelated black and white pattern defined by the fiducials 108A and other fiducials 108 may represent different binary codes. Different binary codes may be recognized by camera 106 and may accommodate identification and/or determination of which fiducials 108 are at each of which distinct locations along mechanical device 110. In some embodiments, each fiducial 108 may be associated with a different identifier. For example, fiducial 108A may be associated with or define an identifier of "10" (based on QR code or other method); The origin 108B may be associated with or define an identifier of “40” (based on a QR code or other method); And the origin 108C may be associated with or define the identifier of "41" (based on QR code or other method).

1A and 1B, if the correction sheet 202 including the fiducial point 108 is positioned in front of the camera 106, the position and orientation of the correction sheet 202 relative to the camera 106 is corrected in this case. While capturing an image or image frame with camera 106, to generate image frame 152, it may be varied for a predetermined period of time. In this way, the actual dimensions of each fiducial 108 of the calibration sheet 202 can be used to calibrate the camera 106. The correction image frame 152 may be supplied to the scene correction module 154 for pre-correction 156 of the 3D position of the origin 108 in this case. That is, the correction sheet 202 may be used as a reference for computing the initial pose of the camera 106 relative to the fiducial 108 (and/or the reference position of the fiducial 108 relative to the camera 106). Overall, the scene correction module 154 automatically corrects the camera 106 and lens (not shown) and/or the computing device 104 using the correction image frame 152 so that subsequent modules It makes it possible to compute 3D coordinates for all points of interest along (110). As described, scene correction using the scene correction module 154 is a computing device 104 capable of recognizing an origin 108 in a subsequent image frame within the view of the camera 106, regardless of the distance from the camera 106. ) And/or the capabilities of the camera 106.

The implemented camera 106 is a single camera or set of cameras or a plurality of cameras operated collectively or independently, so that the camera 106 is not limited to any particular number of cameras or camera devices capable of capturing image data. It should be understood that it may include devices. Camera 106 may also be any electronic device (eg, mobile device, tablet or laptop) with a camera or any camera connected to a computer. Further, camera 106 may be a stereo camera (not shown) configured to capture 3D images. In an embodiment using such a stereo camera, the stereo camera can be used independently without the fiducial 108 as a corresponding point for generating attribute measurements. In some embodiments, camera 106 is configured with a resolution sufficient to capture selected actual features or fiducials 108 used to display mechanical device 110. Multiple cameras may be used to increase the field of view or to provide a stereoscopic view of the mechanical device 110. In one embodiment, positioning and posing the camera 106 is performed before the scene correction module 154 is executed. The actual features and/or fiducials 108 used to display the mechanical device 110 can be represented by the pixels of the 2D image, and the application 102 can be applied to these 2D images (and to these 2D images as described herein). Of observed changes). In one embodiment, using a camera 106 capable of capturing high-resolution (1920p×1080p) images is an application 102 because the fiducial 108 or actual feature can be represented by a larger number of pixels. ) Function and output can be improved. In some embodiments, when implementing camera 106 as a live camera (the camera continuously supplies information to application 102), image frames 158 are being refreshed at a given rate between 0.1 and 144 Hz. Application 102 converts image frame 158 to binary (i.e., black and white) to perform subsequent measurements or to find specific features/origins 108 within image frame 158 and sharpen edge resolution. It can operate on one or more files associated with the image frame 158 to perform thickening, thinning lines, and the like.

When the scene correction is complete, the fiducial 108 may be deployed or positioned along a predetermined position of the mechanical device 110 as needed. Referring to the example 300 of FIG. 3A, the origin 108A may be deployed along the upper portion of the general body 302 of the mechanical device 110, and the origin 108B and the origin 108C are illustrative. It may be positioned along the elongate member 304 extending from the general body 302 of the mechanical device 110 as described. Further, at least one fiducial 108 may be located along a surface 306 such as fiducial 108D shown. In some embodiments, the illustrated fiducials 108 may be cut from the calibration sheet 202 and placed along separate predetermined positions of the mechanical device 110. The fiducials 108 located along the mechanical device 110 may also be copied or duplicated from the calibration sheet 202. The fiducial 108 may be temporarily bonded to the surface of the mechanical device 110 using tape, a weak adhesive, or a magnetic application. In an example with a scaled-down fiducial, fiducial 108 may be embedded within the coating of mechanical device 110, or may be made such that fiducial is integrated within or along mechanical device 110. The locations of the fiducials 108A, 108B, and 108C shown are merely exemplary and may be re-positioned according to the measurements of the desired mechanical device 110.

In some embodiments, the fiducial point 108 illustrated in FIG. 3A accommodates a measure of the relative angle between the surface 306 (which may be any flat surface) and a given axis defined along the mechanical device 110. For example, the origin 108A and the origin 108D are between the axis 310 (X1) defined by the surface 306 and the axis 312 (X2) defined by the body 302 of the mechanical device 110. Can be used to measure the relative angle of. Similarly, the fiducial point 108D, fiducial point 108B and/or fiducial point 108C is defined by the axis 310 defined by the surface 306 and the elongate member 304 of the mechanical device 110. It can be used to measure the relative angle between 312(X3).

Referring back to FIG. 1B, once fiducial 108 is deployed, one or more images or image frames 158 of fiducial 108 and mechanical device 110 may be accessed or captured using camera 106. I can. The image frame 158 may define two-dimensional image features related to the origin 108 and the two-dimensional image features of the mechanical device 110, and/or the natural or actual features (at a predetermined location) of the mechanical device 110. I can.

Using the fiducial tracking module 160, the 2D position of the fiducial 108 in the image frame 158 may be recorded or otherwise identified for use in the 3D position estimation module 170. Similarly, in other embodiments, the actual feature tracking module 164 may be used to record or identify the 2D image position of a given actual feature of the mechanical device 110 within the image frame 158. At this stage, the camera 106 can continuously track the fiducial 108 as long as the mechanical device 110 remains within the image frame. That is, the pose of the camera 106 calculated by the scene correction module 154 can be used to correct the fiducials 108 and/or actual features within the natural scene, and can be tracked over an extended set of frames. The position and rotation of the fiducial 108 is reported in the camera coordinate frame of the image frame 158.

The 3D position estimation module 170 may then be configured to fetch the data generated in the previous module of FIG. 1B to estimate the 3D position/coordinates 172 of all fiducials 108 (and actual features). Cyclic filters such as the Kalman filter can be used to estimate the 3D position 172 of a new point along the mechanical device 110 based on the measurement of the 2D image coordinates 162 of the camera 106's pose and origin/feature. .

Once the 3D point 172 is created, a'physical', which can be configured to apply a set of predetermined linear algebraic operations to the 3D point 172 to define or identify a specific physical property 176 of the mechanical device 110. The attribute definition' module 174 is implemented. "Performance measurement" module 178 is a physical property 176 of mechanical device 110 with an additional predefined function to output any number or type of performance measure, in this case as further described herein. It may be implemented to process or apply data related to the. As an example, the relative angle of the elongate member 304 of the mechanical device 110 relative to the surface 306 may be determined using the function of FIG. 1B. In this example, if the mechanical device 110 is a gun and the elongate member 304 is a barrel, this angle is the distance the bullet or other projectile is expected to travel when ejected through the elongate member 304, for example. It can be useful as an input to other functions to make decisions. In either case, utilizing the module of FIG. 1B, the application 102 can provide a physical 3D physical property or other information that can be used to generate a performance measure 178 (e.g., between any surface of the mechanical device 110 and a given axis. Relative angle of] or the mechanical device 110 is configured to output information useful for evaluating or adjusting.

Numerous additional applications of system 100 are contemplated. In some embodiments, the fiducial set may be placed as a sticker on various parts of a golf club, bat, hockey stick, or other sports equipment for use in fitting for swing analysis. The fiducials can be read by the camera and their assigned identifiers can be supplied as input to the system 100. The system 100 can then be used to analyze initial body motion in the downswing, club head orientation in different swing segments, and overall consistency of the swing. During analysis, the system 100 may assign values during lessons or fittings that players can see and implement to improve performance.

More specifically, referring to example 400 of FIG. 3B, initial body motion in the downswing, club head orientation in different swing segments, and golf clubs 412-golf clubs 412 are generally shaft 414 )-And to analyze the overall consistency of the swing of the club head 416, any number of fiducials 108 may be aligned along various portions of the user 410 and/or golf club 412. have. For example, in example 400, fiducial 108E may be aligned along an upper portion of user 410, such as a shoulder. In this example, fiducial 108E may be attached to or incorporated/sewn into the garment worn by user 410. In some embodiments, fiducial 108F may be aligned along one or more arms 420 of the user, such as left arm 420B, as shown. One or more of the fiducials 108G may also be aligned along one or more of the legs 422 of the user 410. Any number of fiducials 108 may be implemented for swing analysis depending on the desired output.

Further, any number of fiducials 108 may be aligned along golf clubs 412. As shown in FIG. 3B, the fiducial point 108H can be aligned along the shaft 414, and the fiducial point 108I can be aligned along the head 416, but the present disclosure is not limited to this configuration. . In some embodiments, the smart watch 430 or other wearable device may be implemented as the system 100. For example, the smart watch 430 follows the wrist 432 of the user 410 for capture by the camera 106 and interpretation by the computing device 104 of FIG. 1A as described herein. It may be implemented to digitally display one or more of the fiducials 108. The smart watch 430 may also be implemented to provide additional input data to the computing device 104 for swing analysis or to modify the physical properties of the club 412 in connection with the functionality described herein. In some embodiments, the smart watch 430 is configured to measure backswing time, downswing time, tempo (ratio of backswing time to downswing time), and other characteristics of the swing of golf club 412 by user 410. may include a plurality of APPLE WATCH ^® digital watch from a sensor (e.g. accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer), the California mounted, of Cupertino, Apple, Inc. (Apple Inc.) configured.

In some embodiments, when performing a swing analysis, the system 100 may output one or more swing analysis input values that may be leveraged during the fitting of the club 412. Specifically, system 100 may use swing analysis input values as input to a set of functions that include a set of predetermined linear algebra operations. As further described herein (e.g., Figure 4), the linear algebraic operation is the golf club 412 that is optimal for the user 410, such as the relative angle between the club shaft 414 and the club head 416. One or more output values corresponding to the measurements of the physical properties of can be provided in turn. In some embodiments, the system 100 takes as input a set of coordinates representing a predetermined origin of the local coordinate system (derived from or otherwise derived from the set of origins 108) and a second set of coordinates representing points on the club as inputs. Apply the function. The second set of coordinates may correspond to the location of the fiducial along the shaft 414 of the club 412. These three-dimensional functions find the distance between each of the coordinates, the distance between the origin coordinate representing the horizontal point of the origin and the coordinate representing the horizontal point along the shaft 414, and the origin coordinate representing the vertical point of the origin. The distance between the and the coordinates representing the vertical points along the shaft 414 is found, and the origin coordinates representing the points on the axis perpendicular to the horizontal and vertical axes at the origin and perpendicular to the horizontal and vertical axes at the points along the shaft 414 The distance between the coordinates representing the point on the phosphorus axis is found. The output of this three-dimensional function is a set of coordinates representing the vector of the shaft axis of the club 412. Another function that performs a cross product operation on the input containing a set of points defining the face of the club 412 or the plane on the head 416 may be applied, and a normal vector to the plane may be generated as an output. Finally, the lie and loft of the club 412 can be calculated by inputting the ratio of vectors corresponding to points on the club 412 into an arc function such as arctan.

For example, a point set representing a predetermined origin of the local coordinate system may be (0, 0, 0). The point set representing the points on the club 412 may be selected as (10, 20, 30). Applying the three-dimensional function, the set of coordinates representing the vector of the shaft axis of the club 412 is found to be (10, 20, 30)-(0, 0, 0) = (10, 20, 30).

If the plane on the face of the club 412 is defined by points A = (2, 2, 3), B = (1, 0, 1) and C = (-1, 3, 4), it is expressed by the variable F. The coordinates of the normal vector with respect to the plane being used can be calculated as follows:

Thus, the coordinates of the vector that are normal to the selected point on the face of the club 412 are (0, 7, -7).

Finally, if the ratio of the coordinates used as input to find the lie is 0.88, then the lie can be arctan (0.88) equal to 0.73 radians, which is about 41.63 degrees. Similarly, if the ratio of the coordinates used as input to find the loft is 0.45, the loft can be arctan(0.45) equal to 0.42 radians, which is about 24.23 degrees.

System 100 may also be implemented to improve gripping during manufacture of golf clubs or other clubs, bats or hockey sticks used as sports equipment. Currently, club gripping can often be performed using the human eye. In this way, different grippers produce inconsistent products. By applying the system 100 to the loft/rye process as well as the gripping process, assembly time can be reduced and consistency between products can be substantially increased. Other golf related applications are also considered.

In some embodiments, one other application of system 100 may be in the field of construction. Specifically, the system 100 calculates the angle of one stud with respect to the other studs and calculates the distance between the studs to ensure a more consistent spacing between the studs and to framers to ensure that the studs are level with each other. Can be implemented by For a typical framer who often has to framing hundreds of homes in a short time, the speed at which the system 100 can calculate the angle and distance between individual studs can save significant labor time and money. System 100 may also serve to reduce labor time and cost when applied to robotics during the manufacturing process. The fiducial 180 is on the component so that the robot in the manufacturing environment can pick up the material sheet or finished part and use the input provided by the fiducial to properly orient the material sheet or finished part for assembly or other operations. It can be placed or aligned. In such applications, fiducial 108 may include a QR code that defines an identifier associated with a set of instructions that instruct the robot how to properly orient the sheet of material or the finished part.

As another example, using the system 100, the angle between a flat target and a barrel or shaft placed a predetermined distance apart may be computed. In this way, gun/archery enthusiasts can benefit from the ability to better align their weapons. As another example, the angle between the paint gun and the selected surface can be computed. Since automakers use robotic arms to paint their car bodies, this could enable manufacturers to have closed loop feedback on the spray angle between the paint gun and the body surface. Further, the disclosed computer vision may be suitable for detecting voids in an opaque paint layer on a vehicle body. As another example, the angle and distance between a landing gear on a strut of a helicopter or airplane and an approaching landing pad or runaway can be calculated. This can provide closed-loop automatic control during landing to protect passengers, and can be used to provide warnings if the landing pad or runaway is tilted (e.g., during stormy weather, the ship's deck may become akimbo. ) When landing a helicopter on a cruise ship].

In addition, the system 100 can be used for data collection in motor sports. The starting point 180 in the form of a sticker or other method may be disposed on the main parts of the vehicle. The fiducial 180 may be scanned by a camera that communicates with the system 100. The system 100 may then use as input any identifier associated with the fiducial 180 to analyze the critical measurements and determine whether the vehicle complies with the rules and regulations associated with each motorsport. The system 100 may use the input to analyze vehicle dynamic suspension angle, among other things. System 100 may additionally record suspension movement in various cornering scenarios. With respect to any of the above possible applications of the system 100, the fiducials 108 may be wholly or partially replaced by the actual features present along the analyzed device or object, and position, orientation, and other attributes of the actual features. Changes to can be interpreted using camera 106 or other methods as described herein.

Referring to FIG. 4, the application 102 and computing device 104 and camera 106 are used to measure aspects of a specific non-limiting embodiment of a mechanical device 110 in the form of a golf club (510 in FIG. 5). A flow diagram 450 (similar to flow diagram 150) is shown illustrating the implementation of a plurality of other possible modules related to different functions for the generation, processing and flow of data used. As shown in the following description of flow chart 450, measurement of golf club 510 is performed using aspects of system 100 of FIG. 1A, calibration sheet 202 and fiducial 108 of FIGS. 2A-2B, It is possible to measure and adjust the loft and lie angles of the golf club 510 and reduce the wear and tear of the golf club 510 during measurement and adjustment, while reducing working time.

In general, the camera 106 may be used to generate the corrected image frame 452 associated with the'scene correction' module 454 to evaluate the pre-calibrated 3D position 456 of the fiducial 108. The origin 108 can be deployed along a predetermined position of the golf club 510, an image frame 458 of the golf club 510 can be generated, and the 'origin tracking' module 460 and/ Or the'real feature tracking' module 464 is then (parallel or individually) with the camera 106 to record or identify other 2D image features associated with the 2D image coordinates 462 or fiducial 108. Can be used. Using the 2D image coordinates 462, the '3D position estimation' module 470 associated with the application 102 is a three-dimensional (3D) point/coordinate corresponding to the origin 108 and the actual feature of the golf club 510. 472 is configured to later estimate or generate the set. When these 3D points 472 are created, a set of predetermined linear algebraic values to define the central axis of the shaft of the golf club, a plane parallel to the face of the golf club 510, and a normal vector 476 to that plane. A'shaft axis + face plane normal vector definition' module 474 configured to apply an operation 474 as "shaft axis + face plane normal vector definition") to the 3D point 472 may be implemented. The "Loft + Lie Calculation" module 478 may then use the data described above to output the loft and lie angles associated with the golf club 510. In some embodiments, the loft and lie angles associated with the golf club 510 are determined through the'virtual object overlap' module 480 with reference to the database 482 of predefined virtual objects related to the golf club and golf club fitting. It can be further checked against the target specification of.

More specifically, referring to the scene correction module 454 of FIG. 4, the spatial resolution of the camera 106 may be first corrected to the starting point 108. In some embodiments, this may include initially positioning a calibration sheet (202 in FIG. 2) with a fiducial 108 or an array of fiducials (an array of fiducials shown as 204 in FIG. 2A) in front of the camera 106. There, the correction sheet 202 is oriented towards the camera 106. Fiducial 108 can take a variety of shapes and shapes as described herein, and in some embodiments, fiducial 108 is a two-dimensional (2D) QR (Quick Response) code (shown in Figures 2A-2B). ) Or along the golf club 510 (not shown), or otherwise can take the form of a naturally defined natural feature.

Returning to Fig. 4 again, if the correction sheet 202 including the fiducial point 108 is positioned in front of the camera 106, the position and orientation of the correction sheet 202 relative to the camera 106 is then determined by the correction image frame ( To generate 452, while capturing an image with camera 106, it may be varied for a period of time. In this way, the actual dimensions of each fiducial 108 of the calibration sheet 202 can be used to calibrate the camera 106. The correction image frame 152 can then be supplied to the scene correction module 454 for pre-correction 456 of the 3D position of the fiducial point 108. That is, the correction sheet 202 may be used as a reference for computing the initial pose of the camera 106 relative to the fiducial 108 (and/or the reference position of the fiducial 108 relative to the camera 106). Overall, the scene correction module 454 automatically corrects the camera 106 and lens (not shown) and/or the computing device 104 using the correction image frame 452 so that subsequent modules can be used herein. As further described, it makes it possible to compute 3D coordinates for all points of interest along the golf club 510. Scene correction using the scene correction module 454 as described is a computing device 104 capable of recognizing an origin 108 in a subsequent image frame within the view of the camera 106, regardless of the distance from the camera 106. And/or the capabilities of the camera 106. Camera 106 may take a number of different forms, may capture images, image frames, or live streaming data (which defines image frames), and include one or more cameras as further described herein. can do.

Once the scene correction is complete, the golf club 510 may then be ready for deployment and measurement. 5, a golf club 510 may generally include a golf club head 512 (which may be an iron type) and a shaft 514 of a golf club. The golf club head 512 is coupled to one end of the shaft 514 of the golf club, and the grip 516 is coupled to the opposite end of the shaft 514 of the golf club. Suitable materials for the shaft 514 of a golf club may include steel and graphite. Although the golf club head 512 is shown as an iron type golf club head, it may be a putter or wood type club head in other embodiments without departing from the scope of the inventive concept described herein.

The golf club head 512 includes a hosel 520 and a body 518 having a cylindrical bore 522 for receiving one end of the shaft 514 of the golf club. Body 518 defines a heel end 524 spaced from a toe end 526. A sole (not shown in FIG. 5) extends from the lower portion of the heel end 524 to the lower portion of the toe end 526, and the top rail 530 is toe from the upper portion of the heel end 524. It extends to the upper portion of end 526. Body 518 has a rear surface 532 extending between heel end 524 and toe end 526 along a rear or rear portion of body 518. Body 518 further includes a front surface 534 extending between heel end 524 and toe end 526. The hosel 520 includes a neck 521 connected to the heel end 524 of the body 518. Neck 521 has a notch (not shown) on the lower surface of neck 521. The golf club head 512 may further include a golf club face plate 540 having a front surface 542 and a rear surface 544. The club head 512 may be formed by casting, machining from solid casting, or the like. Materials suitable for the club head 512 include, but are not limited to, stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, nickel, titanium alloy, aluminum alloy, nickel alloy, and the like.

Prior to creating the image frame 458 of the golf club 510, the fiducial 108 (which may be the same fiducial used for scene correction) is placed on the golf club 510 at any time or prior to being placed into the adjustment tool 114. They may be arranged, combined or otherwise positioned along separate predetermined positions. 6A-6B, in an example, at least three of the starting points 108 may be disposed at at least three separate locations on the golf club 510. A first fiducial, such as fiducial 108A of FIG. 2B, may be disposed on the golf club face plate 540 of the golf club head 512. A second fiducial, such as fiducial 108B of FIG. 2B, may be disposed on the first end 550 of the shaft 514 of the golf club proximate the golf club head 512. A third fiducial, such as fiducial 108C of FIG. 2B, may be disposed opposite the first end 550 at the second end 552 of the shaft 514. The first fiducial 108A represents the face plane of the face plate 540 of the golf club 510. The second and third fiducials 108B and 108C represent the centerline axis of the shaft 514 of the golf club 510. The identification or observation of the face plane in relation to the centerline axis of the shaft 514 accommodates the application 102 for determining the loft and lie angles of a golf club head, as further described herein. The second and third fiducials 108B and 108C further accommodate the application 102 for determining the length of the shaft 514.

In other examples, the fiducials 108 may include any number (e.g., at least 4 fiducials, at least 5 fiducials, at least 6 fiducials, at least 7 fiducials, at least 8 fiducials, at least 9 fiducials, At least 10 origins, at least 11 origins, at least 12 origins, or at least 13 origins). Increasing the amount of fiducial 108 deployed can increase the accuracy of the application 102 for measuring the aspect of the golf club 510. Additionally, increasing the amount of fiducial 108 may allow application 102 to measure other properties such as roll and bulge of a golf club. In some embodiments, the orientation of fiducial 108 on face plate 540 is aligned with one edge of fiducial 108 parallel to a plurality of grooves located on face plate 540 of golf club head 512. Can be. In another example, fiducials 108 on face plate 540 need not be aligned with the plurality of grooves in golf club head 512. The orientation of fiducials 108 on shaft 514 can be any orientation as long as there are at least two fiducials 108 located on shaft 514.

In some embodiments, the illustrated fiducial 108 may be cut from the calibration sheet 202 and disposed along a separate predetermined location of the illustrated golf club 510. The fiducials 108 located along the golf club 510 may also be copied or duplicated from the calibration sheet 202. The fiducial 108 may be temporarily bonded to the surface of the golf club 510 using tape, adhesive, or by magnetic application. In the example with a scaled-down fiducial, fiducial 108 may be embedded within the coating of golf club 510, or may be made such that the fiducial is incorporated into or along golf club 510. The fiducial 108 may be further disposed on the shaft 514 of the golf club 510 by attaching the fiducial 108 on a flat surface with an attachment mechanism (e.g., a snap clamp) attached to the shaft 514. have. The fiducial 108 may also be placed on the shaft 514 of the golf club head 512 by means of a magnet. The locations of fiducial 108A, fiducial 108B and fiducial 108C shown are merely exemplary and may be re-positioned where different measurements of golf club 510 are desired. In one embodiment, fiducial 108 may be printed and measured prior to being applied or positioned along golf club 510.

Referring to FIG. 6C, fiducials 108A (and other fiducials 108) may define the intrinsic geometry of a generally square shape and pixelated black and white pattern. In other embodiments, the fiducial point 108 may comprise any shape (eg, circular, rectangular, triangular, pentagonal, octagonal, or any other shape). In some embodiments, the fiducial 108 is a contour 210 (previously shown in FIG. 2B) along the perimeter of the shape of the fiducial 108, and a point 212 located at a point along the contour 210 It includes more. The contour line 210 represents the plane coordinate of the origin 108, and the point 212 represents the origin of the plane coordinate. The unique geometry of the pixelated black-and-white pattern represents different binary codes. To ensure that the computing device 104 and camera 106 are configured to identify which fiducial point 108 is at each distinct location of the golf club 510, a different binary code is added to the camera 106 after scene correction. Is recognized by

Referring again to FIG. 4, when fiducial 108 is deployed, the two-dimensional position of fiducial 108 may be recorded, and/or one or more images of fiducial 108 and golf club 510 or Image frame 458 may be accessed or captured using camera 106. The image frame 458 is a two-dimensional image feature or image coordinate 462 of the origin 108 and golf club 510, and/or two related to a natural or actual feature (of a predetermined location) of the golf club 510. Dimensional image features can be defined. The image frame 458 may further define the 2D image location of the groove of the club face 540 and the surrounding points along the entire golf club 510 within the image frame. The camera 106 can continuously track the origin 108 or natural feature of the golf club 510 as long as the club 510 remains within the image frame. That is, using the fiducial tracking module 460, the 2D position of the fiducial 108 in the image frame 458 may be recorded or otherwise identified for use in the 3D position estimation module 470. Similarly, in another embodiment, the actual feature tracking module 464 may be used to record or identify the 2D image location of a given actual feature of the golf club 510 within the image frame 458. The position and rotation of the origin 108 is recorded in the camera coordinate frame of the image frame 458.

The 3D position estimation module 470 may then be configured to fetch the data generated in the previous module of FIG. 4 to estimate the 3D position/coordinates 472 of all fiducials 108 (and actual features). Cyclic filters, such as the Kalman filter, can be used to estimate the 3D position 472 of a new point along the golf club 510 based on the measurement of the 2D image coordinates 462 of the pose and origin/feature of the camera 106. have.

If the 3D point 472 is created or otherwise determined, it is configured to apply a set of predetermined linear algebraic operations to the 3D point 472 to estimate the shaft axis, face plane, and normal vector (shown in 476). Shaft axis + face plane normal vector definition' module 474 may be implemented. In one embodiment, the vector of the shaft axis (S in Fig. 6A) can be calculated as follows:

Here, (x', y', z') is defined as the origin of the local coordinate system. Three points (A, B and C) on the face 540 of the club 510 (shown as 560, 562 and 564 respectively in FIG. 6A) are used to define the plane on the face.

The normal vector F for that plane can be computed as follows:

Where AB and AC are vectors pointing from A to points B and C, respectively.

Finally, the'Loft + Lie Calculation' module 478 can be configured to calculate a club's lie as follows:

And the loft looks like this:

In this way, the application 102 is configured to calculate the loft and lie (as vector projections) within a wide range of club orientation and club position relative to the camera 106. As an additional step, the application 102 may check the loft and lie measurements for validity against the 3D model of the target golf club (ie, with defined loft and lie measurements) within the virtual object's database 482.

That is, the application 102 is configured to implement the modules and functions of FIG. 4, so that the camera 106 and the scene can be corrected, the origin 108 can be positioned along the golf club 510, and the origin ( 108) and the camera 106 of the golf club 510. Referring to the data characterizing the image characteristics relative to the fiducials 108B-108C, the position and rotation of this fiducial 108 can be reported to determine the centerline shaft vector. Further, the plane of the face 540 of the golf club 510 may be determined with reference to data defining the characteristics of the image related to the origin 108A. The above equation may then be used to measure the loft and lie of the golf club 510 based on the centerline shaft vector and the plane of the face 540 of the golf club 510.

As shown in FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the golf club 510 being measured and adjusted may remain coupled to the adjustment tool 114 (eg, a pneumatic vise) throughout the adjustment process. The camera 106 may be positioned to provide the camera 106 with a clear line of sight (LOS) for the shaft 514 and the face of the golf club 510 being adjusted.

Test and sample results

8A-8B, utilizing the system 100, application 102, and features of FIG. 4 (collectively denoted as “non-contact PC vision”), the loft of the golf club 510 and It has been found that the time to measure Rye is significantly reduced compared to other methods and systems, and the calculation results in an appropriate error rate. System accuracy better than .0004" (higher than 4" vision volume) is possible with typical angular accuracy better than 0.05°.

Importantly, the methods described herein accommodate efficient measurements of the loft and lie of the golf club 510 and can be performed without tools or fixtures. When using the fixation tool 114, aspects of the system 100 can be implemented as a mobile app or computer program to measure the properties of the golf club 510 without removing the golf club 510 from the adjustment tool 114. have. Camera 106 can supply image data to application 102 continuously or at intervals during scene correction and measurement, without unwanted removal and re-combination of golf club 510 to adjustment tool 114.

In another embodiment, the unique characteristics of the golf club 510 may be used for measurement and self-calibration (i.e. the spacing of the grooves and diameters of the shaft 514 in the tip and grip of the golf club 510, not shown). I can. In other embodiments, multiple cameras/detectors may be implemented using imaging techniques for high resolution point clouds or meshes. All of these techniques can be used for both desktop and mobile implementations of system 100 described herein.

Exemplary Computing Components

9 is an exemplary schematic diagram of a computing device 700 that can implement the various methodologies discussed herein. For example, computing device 700 may include computing device 104 that executes or accesses functions and/or aspects of application 102. Computing device 700 includes a bus 701 (i.e., interconnect), at least one processor 702 or other computing element, at least one communication port 703, main memory 704, removable storage medium 705, A read-only memory 706 and a mass storage device 707 may be included. Processor(s) 702 can be any known, such as, but not limited to, ^{Intel ®} Itanium ^® or Itanium 2 ^® processor(s), AMD ^® Opteron ^® or Athlon MP ^® processor(s), or Motorola ^{® processor family.} It can be a processor. The communication port 703 may be any of a modem-based dial-up connection, a 10/100 Ethernet port, a gigabit port using copper or fiber, or an RS-232 port for use with a USB port. The communication port(s) 703 may be selected according to a network, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or any network to which the computer device 700 is connected. The computing device may further include a transmission and/or relay network 755, a display screen 760, an I/O port 740, and an input device 745 such as a mouse or keyboard.

Main memory 704 may be random access memory (RAM) or any other dynamic storage device(s) generally known in the art. Read-only memory 706 may be any static storage device(s) such as a programmable read-only memory (PROM) chip for storing static information such as instructions for processor 702. The mass storage device 707 can be used to store information and instructions. ^{For example, hard disks such as the Adaptec ®} family of Small Computer Serial Interface (SCSI) drives ^{, optical disks, disk arrays such as RAID such as the Adaptec ®} family of Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) drives, or any other mass storage device. Can be used.

The bus 701 communicatively connects the processor(s) 702 with other memories, storage, and communication blocks. The bus 701 may be a PCI/PCI-X, SCSI, or USB (Universal Serial Bus) based system bus (or something else) depending on the storage device used. Removable storage medium 705 includes any type of external hard drive, thumb drive, compact disk-read-only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-Re-Writable (CD-RW), digital video Disc-may be a read-only memory (DVD-ROM), etc.

Embodiments of the present specification may be provided as a computer program product that may include a machine-readable medium storing instructions that may be used to program a computer (or other electronic device) to perform a process. Machine-readable media include optical disks, CD-ROMs, magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, flash Memory, or other types of media/machine-readable media suitable for storing electronic instructions, but are not limited thereto. In addition, embodiments herein may also be downloaded as a computer program product, wherein the program is a requesting computer from a remote computer via a data signal embodied in a carrier wave or other propagating medium via a communication link (e.g., modem or network connection) Can be sent to.

As shown, main memory 704 may be encoded with applications 102 that support the functions discussed above. That is, aspects of application 102 (and/or other resources described herein) are software code (e.g., memory) such as data and/or logic instructions to support processing functions according to other embodiments described herein. Or a code stored in another computer-readable medium such as a disk). During operation of one embodiment, processor(s) 702 accesses main memory 704 through the use of bus 701, such as through logic instructions executed on processor 702 and stored in main memory, or Launches, runs, executes, interprets, or otherwise performs a process based on an otherwise tangibly stored application 102.

The above description includes example systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and/or computer program products that implement the techniques of this disclosure. However, it is understood that the described disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In this disclosure, the disclosed method may be implemented as a set of instructions or software readable by an apparatus. In addition, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the disclosed method is an example of an exemplary approach. It is understood that based on design preferences, a specific order or hierarchy of steps in a method may be re-arranged while remaining within the disclosed subject matter. The appended method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order and are not meant to be necessarily limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The disclosed disclosure may be provided as a computer program product or software that may include a machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that may be used to program a computer system (or other electronic device) to perform a process according to the present disclosure. . Machine-readable media includes any mechanism for storing information in a form (eg, software, processing application) readable by a machine (eg, a computer). The machine-readable medium includes an optical storage medium (eg, CD-ROM); Magneto-optical storage media, read-only memory (ROM); Random access memory (RAM); Erasable programmable memory (eg, EPROM and EEPROM); Flash memory; Or other types of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, but are not limited thereto.

Certain embodiments are described herein as including one or more modules. Such a module is implemented as hardware, and thus includes at least one tangible unit capable of performing a specific operation, and may be configured or arranged in a specific manner. For example, a hardware-implemented module may include a dedicated circuit that is permanently configured (for example, as a special purpose processor such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) to perform a specific operation. have. The hardware implemented module may also include programmable circuitry (eg, contained within a general purpose processor or other programmable processor) that is temporarily configured by software or firmware to perform certain operations. In some illustrative embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., standalone systems, client and/or server computer systems, or peer-to-peer computer systems) or one or more processors perform certain operations as described herein. It can be configured by software (eg, an application or part of an application) as a hardware-implemented module that operates to perform.

Thus, the terms "hardware-implemented module" or "module" may be physically configured, permanently configured (eg, hard wired), or temporarily configured to operate in a particular manner and/or perform certain operations described herein. Includes an entity of type that is an entity consisting of (eg, programmed). When considering an embodiment in which hardware-implemented modules are temporarily configured (eg, programmed), each hardware-implemented module need not be configured or instantiated in any one instance in time. For example, if the hardware-implemented module includes a general-purpose processor configured using software, the general-purpose processor may be configured as each different hardware-implemented module at different times. Accordingly, the software may configure the processor to configure a specific hardware implementation module in, for example, one time instance and another hardware implementation module in another time instance.

The hardware implemented module may provide information to and/or receive information from other hardware implemented modules. Thus, the described hardware-implemented modules can be considered communicatively coupled. When a plurality of such hardware-implemented modules are present at the same time, communication can be achieved through signal transmission (eg, via appropriate circuitry and bus) connecting the hardware-implemented modules. In embodiments in which a plurality of hardware-implemented modules are configured or instantiated at different times, communication between these hardware-implemented modules can be achieved, for example, through storage and retrieval of information in a memory structure accessible by the plurality of hardware-implemented modules. . For example, one hardware implementation module may perform an operation and may store an output of the operation in a memory device that is communicatively coupled. An additional hardware-implemented module, in this case, can later access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output. The hardware implemented module may initiate communication with an input or output device.

It is believed that the present disclosure and its many advantages are to be understood by the foregoing description, and various changes can be made in the form, structure and arrangement of components without departing from the disclosed subject matter or without sacrificing all material advantages. This should be obvious. The described form is illustrative only, and the following claims are intended to encompass and include such modifications.

While the present disclosure has been described with reference to various embodiments, it should be understood that these embodiments are exemplary and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Various variations, modifications, additions and improvements are possible. More generally, embodiments according to the present disclosure have been described in the context of specific implementations. Functionality may be separated or combined in blocks differently in various embodiments of the present disclosure, or described in different terms. These and other variations, modifications, additions and improvements may be within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the following claims.

term

Item 1: A system for measuring the properties of a golf club,

A camera configured to capture images of a golf club and a plurality of fiducials; And a computing device operably in communication with the camera,

Computing devices are:

Accessing a first set of pixels associated with each of the plurality of fiducials of the first image to correct the spatial resolution of the camera,

Accessing a second image from the camera, the second image comprising a golf club having a plurality of fiducials positioned along a predetermined position of the golf club;

Transform the second image into a second set of pixels associated with each of the plurality of fiducials,

Generating a set of points corresponding to a plurality of fiducials, the set of points defining the estimated three-dimensional features of the plurality of fiducials in the second image based on a comparison between the first set of pixels and the second set of pixels,

Applying a set of points to a set of predetermined functions to generate club characteristic data defining a central axis of the shaft of the golf club, a plane parallel to the face of the golf club, and a normal vector to the plane, and

Based on the club characteristic data, to output measurements including the loft angle and lie angle associated with the golf club.

Consisting of a system.

Item 2: according to item 1,

Wherein the plurality of fiducials include individual fiducials removable from the golf club.

Item 3: according to item 2,

Wherein the individual fiducials comprise a 2D quick response (QR) code set.

Item 4: according to item 1,

Wherein the plurality of fiducials comprise natural preselected features of the golf club.

Item 5: according to item 1,

The calibration of the camera's spatial resolution is:

-Providing a sheet-multiple fiducials are defined in an array along the side of the sheet;

Positioning the sheet in front of the camera such that the side of the sheet is oriented towards the lens of the camera, and

Changing the position and orientation of the sheet relative to the camera while capturing one or more images to generate calibration data

Including,

Wherein the correction data is used by the computing device to determine a set of points corresponding to a plurality of fiducials.

Item 6: The method of item 5,

Wherein the sheet is used as a reference to compute the initial pose of the camera.

Item 7: according to item 1,

Wherein the second set of pixels is part of a pixel array that defines the entirety of the second image, the second set of pixels defines positions and dimensions specific to a plurality of origins of the second image, and further defines an integer array. , system.

Item 8: The method of item 1,

Wherein the computing device uses a cyclic filter to generate a set of points based on the camera's pose and the second set of pixels.

Item 9: The method of item 1,

Wherein some of the plurality of fiducials are assigned to the face of the golf club, and a second portion of the plurality of fiducials is assigned to the shaft of the golf club.

Item 10: The method of item 1,

A given set of functions are:

Three-dimensional (3D) function-The 3D function includes an input containing a set of coordinates representing the origin of the local coordinate system and a second coordinate representing a predetermined position along the golf club, the 3D function representing the vector of the shaft axis of the golf club. -Configured to generate an output containing a third set of coordinates;

A first function that performs a cross product operation on the first function input-the first function input contains a set of points defining a plane on the face of the golf club, and the first function calculates a normal vector for the plane. -Configured to generate a defining first function output;

A second function comprising a second function input comprising a proportion of the vector, the second function being configured to generate a second function output that defines an angle representing the lie of the golf club; And

A third function comprising a third function input comprising a proportion of the vector, the third function configured to generate a third function output that defines an angle representing the loft of the golf club

And a series of one or a predetermined linear algebra operation comprising a.

Clause 11: As a method,

Providing a processor in operative communication with the camera component,

The processor is:

Accessing a first image from a camera component, the first image comprising a plurality of fiducials;

Transforming the first image into a first plurality of picture elements associated with each of the plurality of origins;

Accessing a second image from the camera component, the second image comprising a plurality of fiducials positioned along a predetermined position of the golf club;

Transforming the second image into a second plurality of picture elements associated with each of the plurality of origins;

Generating a set of points defining a virtual three-dimensional aspect of the plurality of origins based on the difference between the first and second plurality of picture elements;

Applying a set of points as input to a series of predetermined linear algebraic operations to generate golf club characteristic data; And

Based on golf club characteristic data, to generate output measurements that define the loft angle and lie angle associated with the golf club

Constructed, how.

Item 12: The method of item 11,

Wherein the camera component comprises one or more cameras.

Item 13: The method of item 11,

Wherein the first plurality of picture elements and the second plurality of picture elements comprise pixels represented as a two-dimensional array of integers.

Item 14: The method of item 11,

And continuously tracking a plurality of fiducials using the camera component while the golf club is positioned within an image frame associated with the camera component.

Item 15: The method of item 11,

And coupling the golf club to a pneumatic vise of the adjustment fixture to position the golf club within a clear line of sight of the camera component.

Item 16: The method of item 11,

And positioning the camera component at a predetermined location relative to the plurality of fiducials prior to the step of calibrating.

Item 17: The method of item 11,

Wherein the plurality of origins include features of the golf club including grooves, logos, and faces of the golf club.

Item 18: The method of item 11,

The method, wherein the first and second origins of the plurality of origins are defined along the bottom groove of the golf club, and the third origin of the plurality of origins is defined along the face of the golf club.

Item 19: As a device,

camera; And a computing device,

The computing device accesses a plurality of picture elements associated with a plurality of fiducials from a first image generated by the camera, and a series of picture elements from a second image representing a plurality of fiducials positioned along the golf club. 3D as input to one or more predefined linear algebra operations to identify changes, generate a set of 3D points based on a series of changes to a plurality of picture elements related to a plurality of fiducials, and generate golf club characteristic data. The apparatus is configured to apply a set of points and output measurements defining a loft angle and lie angle associated with a golf club based on the golf club characteristic data.

Item 20: The method of item 19,

The golf club characteristic data includes a central axis of the shaft of the golf club, a plane parallel to the face of the golf club, and a normal vector to the plane, wherein the output measurements are verified against a predetermined target specification associated with the golf club. Device.

Item 21: The method of item 19,

Wherein the plurality of picture elements associated with the plurality of fiducials include pixels of the two-dimensional image, and the series of changes to the picture elements associated with the plurality of fiducials include the changes to the pixels reflected by the second image .

Clause 22: As a device,

camera; And a computing device,

The computing device has access to a plurality of two-dimensional image features associated with a plurality of fiducials from a first image generated by the camera, and a plurality of two-dimensional viewed through a second image representing a plurality of fiducials positioned along the mechanical device. Identify a change in position and rotation of a plurality of fiducials based on one or more changes to a picture feature, generate a set of 3D points based on one or more changes to a plurality of two-dimensional picture features associated with the plurality of fiducials, and A device configured to apply a set of 3D points as input to one or more predefined linear algebraic operations to generate device-related physical attribute data, and to output a performance measure associated with the mechanical device based on the physical attribute data.

Item 23: The method of item 22,

Wherein the plurality of fiducials comprise individual QR codes positioned along a predetermined position of the mechanical device.

Item 24: The method of item 22,

The device, wherein the plurality of fiducials comprise natural or actual features associated with a predetermined location of the mechanical device.

Claims (20)

As a system for measuring the properties of a golf club,
A camera configured to capture images of a golf club and a plurality of fiducials; And
Computing device operably communicating with the camera
Including, the computing device:
Accessing a first set of pixels associated with each of the plurality of fiducials of the first image to correct the spatial resolution of the camera,
Accessing a second image from the camera, the second image comprising a golf club having a plurality of fiducials positioned along a predetermined position of the golf club;
Transform the second image into a second set of pixels associated with each of the plurality of fiducials,
Generating a set of points corresponding to a plurality of fiducials, the set of points defining the estimated three-dimensional features of the plurality of fiducials in the second image based on a comparison between the first set of pixels and the second set of pixels,
By applying a set of points to a set of predefined functions, club characteristic data defining the central axis of the shaft of the golf club, a plane parallel to the face of the golf club, and a normal vector to the plane are generated,
And output measurements including loft angles and lie angles associated with a golf club based on club characteristic data. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of fiducials comprises individual fiducials removable from the golf club. The system of claim 2, wherein the individual fiducials comprise a 2D quick response (QR) code set. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of fiducials comprise natural preselected features of a golf club. The method of claim 1, wherein the correction of the spatial resolution of the camera is:
-Providing a sheet-multiple fiducials are defined as an array along the side of the sheet,
Positioning the sheet in front of the camera such that the side of the sheet is oriented towards the lens of the camera, and
Changing the position and orientation of the sheet relative to the camera while capturing one or more images to generate calibration data,
Wherein the correction data is used by the computing device to determine a set of points corresponding to a plurality of fiducials. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the sheet is used as a reference to compute the initial pose of the camera. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of pixels is part of a pixel array that defines the entirety of the second image, the second set of pixels defines positions and dimensions specified at a plurality of origins of the second image, and defines an integer array. A system that further defines. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device uses a cyclic filter to generate a set of points based on the camera's pose and the second set of pixels. The system of claim 1, wherein some of the plurality of fiducials are assigned to a face of a golf club and a second portion of the plurality of fiducials are assigned to a shaft of a golf club. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined set of functions is:
Three-dimensional (3D) function-The 3D function includes an input including a set of coordinates representing the origin of the local coordinate system and a second coordinate representing a predetermined position along the golf club, and the 3D function contains a vector of the shaft axis of the golf club. -Configured to generate an output containing a third set of coordinates representing;
A first function that performs a cross product operation on the first function input-the first function input contains a set of points defining a plane on the face of the golf club, and the first function calculates a normal vector for the plane. -Configured to generate a defining first function output;
A second function comprising a second function input comprising a proportion of the vector, the second function being configured to generate a second function output that defines an angle representing the lie of the golf club; And
A third function comprising a third function input comprising a proportion of the vector, the third function configured to generate a third function output that defines an angle representing the loft of the golf club
A system comprising a series of one or a predetermined linear algebra operation comprising a. As a method,
Providing a processor in operative communication with the camera component.
Including, the processor is:
Accessing a first image from a camera component, the first image comprising a plurality of fiducials;
Transforming the first image into a first plurality of picture elements associated with each of the plurality of origins;
Accessing a second image from the camera component, the second image comprising a plurality of fiducials positioned along a predetermined position of the golf club;
Transforming the second image into a second plurality of picture elements associated with each of the plurality of origins;
Generating a set of points defining a virtual three-dimensional aspect of the plurality of origins based on the difference between the first and second plurality of picture elements;
Applying a set of points as input to a series of predetermined linear algebra operations to generate golf club characteristic data;
And generating output measurements defining loft angles and lie angles associated with a golf club based on golf club characteristic data. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the camera component comprises one or more cameras. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first plurality of picture elements and the second plurality of picture elements comprise pixels represented as a two-dimensional array of integers. 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising continuously tracking a plurality of fiducials using the camera component while the golf club is positioned within an image frame associated with the camera component. 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising coupling the golf club to a pneumatic vise of the adjustment fixture to position the golf club within a clear line of sight of the camera component. 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising positioning the camera component at a predetermined location for the plurality of fiducials prior to the step of correcting. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of fiducials include features of a golf club including grooves, logos, and faces of the golf club. The method of claim 11, wherein the first and second origins of the plurality of origins are defined along the bottom groove of the golf club, and the third origin of the plurality of origins is defined along the face of the golf club. As a device,
camera; And
Computing device
Including, the computing device
Accessing a plurality of picture elements associated with a plurality of origins from the first image generated by the camera,
Identify a series of changes to the plurality of picture elements from the second image representing the plurality of fiducials positioned along the golf club,
Create a 3D point set based on a series of changes to a plurality of picture elements related to a plurality of origins,
Apply a set of 3D points as input to one or more predefined linear algebra operations to generate golf club characteristic data,
The apparatus is configured to output measurements defining a loft angle and a lie angle associated with a golf club based on the golf club characteristic data. The method of claim 19, wherein the golf club characteristic data includes a central axis of the shaft of the golf club, a plane parallel to the face of the golf club, and a normal vector to the plane, and the output measurement is a predetermined target specification related to the golf club. Device that is identified for.

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